Upon hearing the announcement of Romney's departure from the race today, I hurriedly sent off an email to every Michigan contact we have. Since our county conventions were the very same night, I only had a few hours--incredibly short notice already--so I rushed the email out as soon as possible. Knowing that anything might change in the next few hours, I set up a conference call for 6pm--90 minutes before most of the conventions, 60 for others.
As you may recall, Romney won Michigan, and at this time he's still keeping his delegates. So hopes were dim. Many of the other voices on the call were pessimistic ("what's the point, just for PR?") People were also mad that I made a fair amount of inaccuracies and hope-exaggerations in the email ("Let's win Michigan!" Hey, I was thinking fast). The disgruntled fired ex-coordinator was even there to scream into the line "WHAT'S THE POINT? DON'T GO!" People from my home county (I moved to the national office last month) were upset that the notice was so short. Admittedly, I should have said something earlier, but then, I figured, why WOULDN'T every Ron Paul supporter think of and make it their business to go to the county convention?
To complicate matters worse, the state GOP's website somehow crashed late that afternoon, so people who didn't already know where their convention was had to try their luck with Google (many on the call were successful, but still, it was a setback).
Turns out YES, it IS very important to rally the troops to the convention. You know what the outcome was?
Every single Ron Paul supporter in my county, who showed up, was made a state delegate for the state convention and an MIGOP precinct delegate for their precinct.
And Washtenaw county, with two major universities and three major hospitals, was the 6th largest in Michigan.
I don't think I need to explain why having a state convention full of Ron Paul supporters is a great thing! Regardless of the buffoonery in rounding up supporters to go and be heard, the outcome was as good as could be expected. I haven't talked with everyone in the state yet, but if Washtenaw was any indication, these seats are practically free for the asking.
So, unless for some reason you see Ron Paul supporters going to state conventions as a bad thing, I strongly encourage you all to be certain to attend your county conventions!
As you may recall, Romney won Michigan, and at this time he's still keeping his delegates. So hopes were dim. Many of the other voices on the call were pessimistic ("what's the point, just for PR?") People were also mad that I made a fair amount of inaccuracies and hope-exaggerations in the email ("Let's win Michigan!" Hey, I was thinking fast). The disgruntled fired ex-coordinator was even there to scream into the line "WHAT'S THE POINT? DON'T GO!" People from my home county (I moved to the national office last month) were upset that the notice was so short. Admittedly, I should have said something earlier, but then, I figured, why WOULDN'T every Ron Paul supporter think of and make it their business to go to the county convention?
To complicate matters worse, the state GOP's website somehow crashed late that afternoon, so people who didn't already know where their convention was had to try their luck with Google (many on the call were successful, but still, it was a setback).
Turns out YES, it IS very important to rally the troops to the convention. You know what the outcome was?
Every single Ron Paul supporter in my county, who showed up, was made a state delegate for the state convention and an MIGOP precinct delegate for their precinct. And Washtenaw county, with two major universities and three major hospitals, was the 6th largest in Michigan.
I don't think I need to explain why having a state convention full of Ron Paul supporters is a great thing! Regardless of the buffoonery in rounding up supporters to go and be heard, the outcome was as good as could be expected. I haven't talked with everyone in the state yet, but if Washtenaw was any indication, these seats are practically free for the asking.
So, unless for some reason you see Ron Paul supporters going to state conventions as a bad thing, I strongly encourage you all to be certain to attend your county conventions!
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